The Polysyllabic Spree is a 2004 collection of Nick Hornby's "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns in The Believer. The book collates his columns from September 2003 to November 2004, inclusive. It also includes excerpts from such authors as Anton Chekhov and Charles Dickens.
In it, Hornby lists the books he bought each month, and the books he actually read. For instance, he might buy Dickens, but read J.D. Salinger. He then writes a column revolving around what he read, bought, and what he intends/intended to read.
The title is a reference to the choral symphonic-rock group The Polyphonic Spree. In the book, Hornby describes the people who run The Believer as being "all dressed in white robes and smiling maniacally, sort of like a literary equivalent of the Polyphonic Spree." (pg. 30)
There are three follow-up books, Housekeeping vs. The Dirt (2006), Shakespeare Wrote for Money (2008) and More Baths Less Talking (2012).
Books bought:
Robert Lowell: A Biography – Ian Hamilton
Collected Poems – Robert Lowell
Against Oblivion: Some of the Lives of the 20th-Century Poets – Ian Hamilton
In Search of J. D. Salinger – Ian Hamilton
Nine Stories – J. D. Salinger
Franny and Zooey – J. D. Salinger
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction – J. D. Salinger
The Ern Malley Affair – Michael Heyward
Something Happened – Joseph Heller
Penguin Modern Poets 5 – Corso/Ferlinghetti/Ginsberg
Books read:
All the Salingers
In Search of Salinger and Lowell
Some of Against Oblivion
Pompeii by Robert Harris (not bought)
Books bought:
A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates – Blake Bailey
Notes on a Scandal – Zoë Heller (released in the US as "What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal")
Books read:
Being John McEnroe – Tim Adams
Stop-Time – Frank Conroy
The Fortress of Solitude – Jonathan Lethem
Desperate Characters – Paula Fox
Notes on a Scandal – Zoë Heller
Where You’re At – Patrick Neate
Feel Like Going Home – Peter Guralnick
The People's Music – Ian MacDonald
A Tragic Honesty – Blake Bailey (unfinished)
How to Stop Smoking and Stay Stopped for Good – Gillian Riley
Quitting Smoking – The Lazy Person's Guide! – Gillian Riley
Books bought:
Bush at War – Bob Woodward
Six Days of War – Michael B. Oren
Genome – Matt Ridley
Isaac Newton – James Gleick
God’s Pocket – Pete Dexter
The Poet and the Murderer – Simon Worrall
Sputnik Sweetheart – Haruki Murakami
Lie Down in Darkness – William Styron
Leadville – Edward Platt
Master Georgie – Beryl Bainbridge
How to Breathe Underwater – Julie Orringer (two copies)
Books read:
A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates – Blake Bailey (completed)
Wenger: The Making of a Legend – Jasper Rees
How to Breathe Underwater – Julie Orringer
Bush at War – Bob Woodward (unfinished)
Unnamed Literary Novel (abandoned)
Unnamed Work of Nonfiction (abandoned)
No Name – Wilkie Collins (unfinished)
Books bought:
Moneyball – Michael Lewis
Saul and Patsy – Charles Baxter
Winner of the National Book Award – Jincy Willett
Jenny and the Jaws of Life – Jincy Willett
The Sirens of Titan – Kurt Vonnegut
True Notebooks – Mark Salzman
Books read:
No Name – Wilkie Collins
Moneyball – Michael Lewis
George and Sam: Autism in the Family – Charlotte Moore
The Sirens of Titan – Kurt Vonnegut
Books bought:
Old School – Tobias Wolff
Train – Pete Dexter
Backroom Boys – Francis Spufford
You Are Not a Stranger Here – Adam Haslett
Eats, Shoots and Leaves – Lynn Truss
Books read:
Enemies of Promise – Cyril Connolly
What Just Happened? – Art Linson
Clockers – Richard Price
Eats, Shoots and Leaves – Lynn Truss
Meat Is Murder – Joe Pernice
Dusty in Memphis – Warren Zanes
Old School – Tobias Wolff
Introducing Time – Craig Callender and Ralph Edney
PLUS: a couple of stories in You Are Not a Stranger Here; a couple of stories in Sixty Stories by Donald Barthelme; a couple of stories in Here's Your Hat What's Your Hurry by Elizabeth McCracken.
Books bought:
The Amateur Marriage – Anne Tyler
The Eclipse – Antonella Gambotto
The Complete Richard Hannay – John Buchan
Selected Letters – Gustave Flaubert
Vietnam-Perkasie – W. D. Ehrhart
Books read:
Some of Flaubert's letters
Not Even Wrong – Paul Collins
How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World – Francis Wheen
Liar's Poker – Michael Lewis
Some of Greenmantle – John Buchan
How to Give Up Smoking and Stay Stopped for Good – Gillian Riley
Books bought:
Hangover Square – Patrick Hamilton
The Long Firm – Jake Arnott
American Sucker – David Denby
Books read:
Hangover Square – Patrick Hamilton
The Long Firm – Jake Arnott
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
True Notebooks – Mark Salzman
Books bought:
Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx – Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
What Narcissism Means to Me – Tony Hoagland
David Copperfield – Charles Dickens (twice)
Books read:
David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
Books bought:
Donkey Gospel – Tony Hoagland
I Never Liked You – Chester Brown
We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
Books read:
Random Family – Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
What Narcissism Means to Me – Tony Hoagland
Bobby Fischer Goes to War – David Edmonds and John Eidinow
Books bought[¹]:
The Invisible Woman – Claire Tomalin
Y: The Last Man Vols 1–3 – Vaughan, Guerra, Marzan Jr., Chadwick
I Never Liked You – Chester Brown
David Boring – Daniel Clowes
The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist – Michael Chabon et al.
Safe Area Goražde – Joe Sacco
Not Entitled – Frank Kermode
[¹] The author here inserts a footnote: "I bought so many books this month it’s obscene, and I’m not owning up to them all: this is a selection. And to be honest, I’ve been economical with the truth for months now. I keep finding books that I bought, didn’t read, and didn’t list."
Books read:
Train – Pete Dexter
This Is Serbia Calling – Matthew Collin
The Invisible Woman – Claire Tomalin
Y: The Last Man Vols 1–3 – Vaughan, Guerra, Marzan Jr., Chadwick
I Never Liked You – Chester Brown
David Boring – Daniel Clowes
Books bought:
Prayers for Rain – Dennis Lehane
Mystic River – Dennis Lehane
Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War – T. J. Stiles
The Line of Beauty – Alan Hollinghurst
Like a Fiery Elephant – Jonathan Coe
Books read:
Prayers for Rain – Dennis Lehane
Mystic River – Dennis Lehane
Like a Fiery Elephant – Jonathan Coe
